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Smith angered by Preston loss

Image: Dean Smith: Felt goal should not have stood

Dean Smith was left angered at the final whistle after seeing Walsall lose to a solitary Daniel Johnson strike at Preston.

Johnson secured all three points in the 18th minute when he converted Chris Humphrey's cut-back from close range, but Smith insists the goal should not have stood after a foul on Walsall's Rico Henry in the build-up. Henry was involved in a collision that saw him dislocate his shoulder and Smith was furious the foul was never spotted by the officials. "We're really disappointed, our first-half performance was poor and they've created several chances," he said. "But we improved in the second half and looked a lot better. "We're really disappointed, though, we felt their goal should never have stood. Rico Henry has been barged to the floor in the build-up and I thought it was a foul. "He dislocated his shoulder falling to the ground and now he's in hospital. The referee thought it was a coming together but I've seen a replay and he's pushed him to the floor. "We didn't start the game well, though, and that's the disappointing thing." Preston closed the gap on the automatic promotion places with the win - their fourth straight League One victory without conceding a goal. After the break Paul Gallagher rattled the crossbar with a long-range drive, before Tom Clarke hit a post with a header, but it was Johnson's early strike that eventually separated the sides. Preston boss Simon Grayson was delighted with a job well done and said: "I thought for 60 minutes we were great. We had great intensity and tempo and got the breakthrough with the first goal. "Second half we gave it away too cheaply but ultimately we've had 19 attempts and our keeper has had one save to make. We got a clean sheet, three points and I can't really complain. "Everyone needs to score goals and it's good to see Johnson get another goal. We've been missing that and he looks a quality player. "He got into the box well and it was a good finish. Chris Humphrey did well to keep his composure and pull the ball back. Johnson has got Premier League quality and I think he's improved us. "I don't think it was a foul in the build-up to the goal, I felt their player slipped and that was that. We deserved to have two or three goals. "I wanted us to come out for the second half and get on top straight away and we did that. We've hit the bar, the post and it could have been more."

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